Clinton should have done more for families: Ivanka Trump

Donald Trump's daughter on Wednesday touted the Republican presidential nominee's new paid maternity leave and child care proposals as "long overdue" changes, criticizing Democrat Hillary Clinton for not doing more to help families during her decades in public service.

"I think we took a giant leap forward with the plan and, you know, respectfully, Hillary Clinton has been around for decades and there's no policy benefiting either mothers or fathers in terms of paid leave," Ivanka Trump said in an interview with ABC's "Good Morning America."

"We have not been in public office for the last several decades and she has. So she could have instituted some of those policies in that role and has not done so."

The proposals come with less than two months to go until the election, with the brash billionaire trying to step up his appeal to women voters.

Ivanka Trump called the proposals "long overdue" changes for an "inaffordable, inaccessible child care system that we currently have in place that's failing American families."

Unlike almost every other industrialized country, the United States does not guarantee paid time off for new mothers. Federal law allows 12 weeks of unpaid "family leave."

Child care is often very expensive.

Some companies, however, offer paid maternity leave of varying duration.

Ivanka Trump, a businesswoman and 34-year-old mother of three, joined her father in the battleground state of Pennsylvania on Tuesday night to unveil his proposals, which include tax deductions for child and elderly care expenses, regulatory reforms and incentives for employers to offer workplace child care.

Women whose employers don't offer paid maternity leave will be entitled to six weeks off with compensation, the campaign said, with the money coming from existing unemployment insurance.

Clinton's campaign called Trump's ideas "out-of-touch, half-baked and ignores the way Americans live and work today."

"Instead of asking those at the top to pay their fair share, he's robbing Peter to pay Paul by raiding unemployment insurance funds, and giving the most to the wealthy while providing far less relief to middle-class and working families," senior policy advisor Maya Harris said in a statement.

Clinton has proposed allowing new parents -- both mothers and fathers -- to take 12 weeks of paid leave while receiving two-thirds of their normal salary. She has also called for capping the cost of child care at 10 percent of a family's income.